The autumn harvest is in full swing, and as the railway lines enter operations one after another, Shandong's economy has made a rapid leap.

Trains solve the problem of high costs caused by transportation, which has triggered some goods that were not originally capable of exporting to the road of export.

The operation of the train means that raw materials can be continuously transported to factories covered by railway networks, and also means that goods can be shipped out quickly.

The transportation costs are very low. Zhao Yan did not intend to treat the railway as a profitable thing, but to operate it as a public facility, only seeking to ensure capital protection and not making money.

The great economic development brought about by railways can increase the income from commercial taxes. If too many thresholds are set up in railway transportation, it will be unfair.

There are more and more factories in Shandong, and the number of factories in Northeast China is also beginning to increase.

Most factories are concentrated in coastal areas, and areas with convenient land and sea transportation in coastal areas are the places with the most densely packed factories.

Industrial towns are being formed in Shandong, and other provinces are not willing to fall behind. With the gradual laying of railway lines, a large number of factories appear in other provinces that are included in the scope of Shandong's administrative scope, gathering towards the origin of raw materials.

If only Shandong has industries, it would be very deformed. Zhao Yan is also encouraging people to open factories in other provinces.

However, there is a principle in opening a factory, that is, the factory cannot damage the environment.

With the application of steam engines, some towns in Shandong have already experienced some negative impacts, that is, cities have begun to turn black under the smoke.

Some towns with steam-intensive buildings and some dust are covered with.

Shandong's newspapers also selected the dirtiest city in Shandong - Huangxian.

Huang County is located on the north side of Zhaojiabao and has become a key industrial zone. Many factories of the Military Equipment Bureau are distributed around Huang County, and some other private factories are also located in Huang County.

Huangxian area is the city with the most steam engines, which has led to the city's environment beginning to change in an unfavorable direction and the air quality is getting worse and worse.

But it's still fine, after all, it's not long.

Pollution is a process that must be gone through, but steam engines are nothing. As long as they are not as dense as they are, the pollution problem will not be too serious.

What’s serious is that some factories that produce waste slag and wastewater. What Zhao Yan can do is to concentrate these factories and concentrate these high-pollution factories in a certain area.

Then, pollution should be minimized as much as possible, and a policy of pollution first and then treatment should be adopted.

Zhao Yan has successively set up several pollutable areas in the Bohai Bay area. Those seriously polluted factories can only produce and operate in these designated areas and cannot expand into inland areas.

Factory in inland areas cannot discharge wastewater into rivers and lakes, nor can they dump waste residue randomly.

Although Zhao Yan's policy hinders economic development, the economy that relies on sacrificing the environment cannot be encouraged, and it doesn't matter if it is slower.

However, the number of factories in other provinces is not as high as in Shandong, because the railway network in Shandong is the most comprehensive, even a small prefecture and county are covered by the railway network.

Each prefecture and county has a railway branch line, which means that each prefecture and county can transport goods through trains, transport them to ports, or to the south.

Those merchants saw that the railway was so convenient and could inject such huge impetus into the development of the local economy, and they all joined the railway construction.

The merchants and gentry, who had just been included in the administrative system, saw that the railway was profitable and could benefit the local area, so they took out their family's money and reported it to the railway bureau to build local branch railways, and even invested the money in the trimming of the main line.

There is no need to worry about the funds for railway construction, and the Democratic Progressive Party’s capital is pouring in in large quantities.

The railway line that has been planned to be built is more than 30,000 kilometers long, which has driven the vigorous development of steel enterprises in various places.

Steel enterprises are no longer limited to Handan, but Handan is still the region with the largest production capacity. Steel enterprises in other regions are developing rapidly, and large-scale iron ores are preparing to enter the mining state in North Korea, southern and northern desert areas, as well as Shaanxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Henan and other places.

In addition to the Maoshan Iron Mine in northern North Korea, these iron ores have entered production, the others are still waiting for the opening of the railway line.

At the same time, railways are also being built from iron ore sites to steel plants.

As long as the railway is connected and coal and railway transportation is delivered, the steel plant can start construction and start production.

Those small iron ores are generally not mined. The iron ores mined are all large iron ores. Those small iron ores are widely distributed and are not concentrated after mining. Backward production technology, pollution, and environmental damage may occur. Iron ore mining is moving towards the Nurkandus area.

Siberia has a vast territory, with a lot of large iron ore there, and it is vast and sparsely populated, so it doesn’t matter how hard it is. Several railway construction plans for mining iron ore and copper mines in the Siberian region have been submitted. These railways will be connected to the Shenxi Railway, which is not too long, but just a branch line. Since it doesn’t cost much, Zhao Yan signed and agreed.

After reading the mining plans, Zhao Yan suddenly realized that the future of railways in the Siberian region may be a golden line!

Because this railway can transport Siberian resources back to the country, and as the West moves, it may control Tsarist Russia in the future, or even connect to Europe.

A railway spanning Asia and Europe!

This railway will certainly become a route with great effect, but it is currently only to ensure the need for expansion, and economic needs are located here. However, in order to develop resources in the Siberian region, there must be a railway.

Due to the large number of work in the project, Liu Guoneng was ruthless in Japan. In the past six months, he captured millions of Japanese slaves. The surrender of the Tokugawa shogunate led to more than 500,000 Japanese people coming to the Ming Dynasty.

After capturing Jiaozhi, more than 100,000 people were arrested from Jiaozhi one after another. These were the Jiaozhi people who did not obey the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and the policy they adopted was to arrest them.

Of course, it will not be caught randomly. Jiaozhi is also a region established by Confucianism, and the degree of sinicization is very high. Since we want to continue to sinicize Jiaozhi, we must give the people of Jiaozhi an equal identity.

This policy of national integration has been moving south since the Qin Dynasty. Jiaozhi is an unsuccessful integration area, and it is necessary for this integration to continue.

Zhao Yan did not want to merge other areas that had not been integrated before. He was more inclined to replace them. It would take a long time for other areas to merge, and if they were replaced, they could be completed in the contemporary world.

There were too few more than 100,000 people. In order to capture more free labor, the Governor of Jiaozhi ordered the 03 mountain regiment stationed in Jiaozhi to start arresting the indigenous people everywhere.

These indigenous people are different from the people of Jiaozhi. These indigenous people are not under the jurisdiction of Jiaozhi. They have a strong pronunciation surname and are very low in degree of sinicization.

This kind of indigenous people is ethnic minorities. Compared with the domestic policy of empathizing with southern ethnic minorities, there are basically no policies for such ethnic minorities overseas.

The policy is not decided, and the local chief will decide on it.

In order to implement the policy formulated by Zhao Yan to continue the sinicization of Jiaozhi, the governor of Jiaozhi was forced to arrest the indigenous people everywhere, and all indigenous people who did not meet the requirements of the sinicization of everything should be eliminated.

As a result, the number of indigenous slaves has increased sharply. In addition to being caught in Jiaozhi, it has also been arrested at the Khmer and Siam borders. The number of indigenous workers has increased to 800,000.

This number is still increasing.

In the north, the Siberian indigenous peoples had a new job, which was also to build railways, and they were taken to the construction site by soldiers from Nurkandus.

More than 300,000 people were arrested throughout Siberia.

With the hard work of nearly three million free workers, the construction of railways in various places has been very fast. However, the excellent workers are still those Japanese slaves.

Those Japanese slaves were still hardworking and familiar with production.

And those indigenous people, especially those in Siberia, have never even touched the hoe. They can't do it quickly when they are working.

With the power of three million free laborers, the mountains and caves were dug along the way. The construction of the Shenxi Railway and the Beijing-Windustry Railway was very fast, and the Shenxi Railway had been built a hundred kilometers away from Lake Baikal.

When the railway construction directed by Zhao Yan was in full swing, the eyes of all the people in the world were attracted by the decisive battle between Zhao Yan and Chongzhen.

In early September, Zhao Yan led five infantry brigades of the 1st Division, plus the new 01st Division, to the northwardly enter Zhending Prefecture.

Although it was a decisive battle between 20,000 and 300,000 people, there was always someone who had to be the leader. At the same time, Zhao Yan also carried a lot of supplies. In addition to the decisive battle, he also prepared for a full-scale war.

Zhao Yan went all the way to Zhending Mansion, followed by thousands of Shandong gentlemen and merchants, as well as some wealthy children and reporters from various newspapers who came to join in the fun.

Chongzhen's 300,000 Beijing camps had already arrived in Zhending Prefecture, and both sides had already drawn a battlefield of 8 miles wide and 100 miles long under Fenglong Mountain.

Zhao Yan always felt that this trap was too insidious. In fact, with the huge advantages of the new 01 Division in weapons, even if it is not drawn in this fixed area, it can still win, but there are still some variables, so Zhao Yan would rather be more insidious than take risks.

This decisive battle was a huge momentum, with tens of thousands of people coming to watch the battle from all over the Ming Dynasty.

Before leaving, Zhao Yan sent a telegram to Chongzhen and invited Chongzhen to Fenglongshan to watch the battle. Chongzhen was unwilling to be stage frightened and gritted his teeth and agreed.

If it was really a trap, he had to admit it. With Zhao Yan's strength, there was no need to use conspiracies and tricks. Not only did he have an absolute advantage over Chongzhen in terms of military strength, but his soldiers also experienced many battles and swept across the eight deserts, which was not something Chongzhen could resist.

So Chongzhen agreed, it was better to face it openly than to escape. Zhao Yan did not use any conspiracy this time, but he used conspiracy.

Zhao Yan's troops were sent out this time and wanted to take the train to Handan and go north again, but this decision attracted collective opposition. Zhao Quan and the others believed that the train was not very safe, so it would be better to ride a horse.

Taking the train will indeed bring some problems. Didn’t Zhang Zuolin just be bombed to death on the train? So Zhao Yan didn’t insist.

Therefore, I did not take the train, but the supply was transported to Handan first and then from Handan to Zhending Mansion, which was quick and reduced consumption.

Zhao Yan led an army of 80,000 to march all the way. On September 10th, he arrived at the foot of Fenglong Mountain in Zhending Prefecture, and the vanguard had already reached the edge of the battlefield at the foot of Fenglong Mountain with supplies.

The two sides had agreed to have three days to prepare, and Zhao Yan gave Chongzhen another privilege to allow him to set up defenses on the battlefield ten days in advance.

When Zhao Yan climbed Fenglong Mountain, he could see with a telescope that the crops on the battlefield had already been harvested, and barbed wire was tied on both sides of the battlefield, and the barbed wire was stretched for hundreds of miles.

Two parallel lines are formed eight miles apart.

White lines were drawn on both ends. As long as either side defeated the white line on a large scale, it would be defeated. White lines were drawn on both ends extending inward for 45 miles, which is where both sides deployed defenses.

On the northern defense line, Sun Chuanting had asked Lian Yu to build a solid defense line. Sun Chuanting had asked someone to dig several deep trenches in front.

These deep grooves are three meters wide and five meters deep. And thick wooden boards are laid on the deep grooves, which can be said to be able to attack and retreat or defend.

Behind the deep trenches, there is a second and third line of defense. These lines of defense are mainly arranged in trenches, barbed wire, mines, shotguns, etc.

Those who don’t understand the situation think this is a defensive fortification of the Shandong Army.

This kind of defensive fortification was used in the Zhenjiang War, which made the Shandong army, which was at an absolute disadvantage, successfully repelled the Qing Dynasty's attack, and later surrounded the Qing Dynasty and was unable to leave.

As the actual commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp, Sun Chuanting worked hard to learn the military style of the Shandong Army and successfully copied the Shandong Army system several years ago.

It’s just that this system is outdated… This is a very cruel fact.

Of course, some parts of Sun Chuanting's replication are more consistent, that is, in terms of defense against artillery, Sun Chuanting poured a solid bunker of eight miles long with cement on the third line of defense.

Sun Chuanting did not think he would lose. After all, 300,000 people had the advantage of overwhelming surnames. The only thing to consider was the strength of the artillery attack of the Shandong Army.

The artillery of the Shandong Army must be very fierce. Some artillery of the Shandong Army cannot be made by the imperial court, and the Beijing camp does not have the advantage in artillery.

Therefore, what Sun Chuanting emphasized was the courage of officers and soldiers.

Although the shelling was fierce, it was not a destructive army in charge, because the shelling was not so dense that it could not be broken through.

Sun Chuanting learned from the soldiers of the Shandong Army that many times the enemies defeated by the Shandong Army were frightened by artillery.

The Jingying was trained by Sun Chuanting, and he still has confidence in the courage of the officers and soldiers.
To be continued...